how to tell whether internal bleeding

[Innercalm]

Here I am after quite a while. The son is back from Europe and the depression is finally abating. My question is how to tell whether there is internal bleeding (not obvious) My son had a "low" 100/60 blood pressure at
clinic having blood drawn for thyroid level and he is concerned that the low bp may mean internal bleeding. Any advice is welcome. innercalm

 

[maka]

Innercalm,
I don't know anything about internal bleeding but I know my BP has been 100/60 for most of my life...

 

[Guest]

Most internal bleeding is into the intestinal tract. It causes either bloody or black-tarry bowel movements. If it is bleeding into an organ such as the liver, pain usually becomes intense. If it is near the skin, bruises are obvious. I think that it would be more useful to worry about an asteroid ending the world 4,000 years from now than to sit around worrying about internal bleeding.

 

[Innercalm]

internal bleeding symptoms

internal bleeding symptoms

thank you so much Al for the reassurance. People new to heart surgery and coumadin, things that are not familiar,usually don't behave nonchalantly when a nurse acts concerned about a "low" blood pressure reading. Coumadin is a blood thinner, as you know, and an internal bleed is possible even in the best circumstances. We are not veterans and want to be alert to any possible problems.

 

[Karlynn]

I'm happy your son got back from Europe. As parents we worry about our kids in the best of circumstances, throw in a health issue and we have our work cut out for us.

I don't know if you've had a chance to read this. http://valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17116 It's just a quick overview of some basic questions and concerns people have in relation to Coumadin, put together by some of us that have used the drug for a while.

My blood pressure is regularly 100/70. Some people just generally run low bp's. My guess on the nurse worrying about him having internal bleeding is more due to the nurse operating off old myth or incorrect information about warfarin.

Coumadin is a blood thinner, as you know, and an internal bleed is possible even in the best circumstances.

Unfortunately, one of the big erroneous assumptions is that people on warfarin (Coumadin) can just start bleeding spontaneously without any cause or condition. The vast majority of other-wise healthy people with an INR less than 5 (and that's being conservative) are not going to start bleeding for no reason. And even if there are reasons, the bleeding is not going to be something that endangers them of bleeding out.

Now if your son has a history of ulcers or other similar issues, then maybe internal bleeding might be of a little more interest when a low bp is taken. But even then, I would think that the amount of bleeding needed to cause a lower bp would also cause some other symptoms, such as abodominal pain. But for a nurse to take a low bp on a patient in for a thyroid check and quickly go to a concern of internal bleeding just tells me the nurse isn't up-to-speed on warfarin.

 

[Nancy]

They always checked Joe for internal bleeding (he has had GI tract bleeding) with a CBC (complete blood count). That seemed to give the info needed for the docs to determine if he was bleeding or not.